Now I have told you some of the ways by land and water, how men may go to Jerusalem; but there are many other ways according to the countries from which they come. There is one way, all by land, to Jerusalem, without passing any sea, which is from France or Flanders; but that way is very long and perilous; and therefore few go that way. It lies through Germany and Prussia, and so on to Tartary. This Tartary is held of the great chan, of whom I shall speak more afterwards; and the lords of Tartary pay the great chan tribute. This is a very bad land, and sandy, and bears very little fruit; for there grows little corn, or wine, or beans, or peas; but there are plenty of cattle; and men eat nothing but flesh, without bread; and they drink the broth, and also they drink milk. And they eat all manner of animals, such as dogs, cats, and rats. And they have little or no wood; and therefore they warm and boil their meat with horse-dung, and cow-dung, and that of other beasts, dried by the sun; and princes and others eat but once a day, and that but little; and they are very foul people, and of evil nature. And in summer, in all these countries, fall many tempests, and dreadful storms of thunder and lightning, which kill many people, and beasts also. And the temperature passes suddenly from extreme heat to extreme cold. It is the foulest country, and the most cursed, and the poorest, that men know. And their prince, whom they call Batho, dwells at the city of Orda. And truly no good man would dwell in that country; for it is not worthy for dogs to dwell in. It were a good country to sow thistles, and briars, and broom, and thorns; and it is good for no other thing. There is some good land, but very little, as men say. I have not been in that country; but I have been in other lands which border on those countries, and in the land of Russia, and in Nyflan, and in the realm of Cracow, and Letto (Lithuania), and in Darestan, and in many other places which border on those parts; but I never went by that way to Jerusalem, wherefore I cannot describe it from personal knowledge; for no man may pass by that way well, except in time of winter, for the perilous waters and difficult marshes, which no man may pass except it be strong frost, and snow upon it; for if the snow were not there, men might not go upon the ice. And it is full three days of such way to pass from Prussia to the inhabited land of the Saracens. And Christians who shall war against them every year must carry their victuals with them; for they shall find no good there. And they must carry their victuals upon the ice, with cars that have no wheels, which they call sleighs; and as long as their victuals last they may abide there, but no longer; for there shall they find no body that will sell them any thing. And when the spies see any Christian men coming upon them, they run to the towns, and cry with a loud voice, "Kerra, kerra, kerra;" and then anon they arm and assemble together.